Why customers leave before buying and how to win them back

Consumers can change their mind about buying a product or service at any stage of the purchase journey and for any number of reasons but two new pieces of research find poor customer service and lack of availability are the main turn-offs.

Getting a customer to consider a brand, see its advertising, research a product or service, and begin the process of buying is becoming a huge challenge. Consumers are continuously bombarded with choice in every sector, so when a customer doesn’t hit that ‘buy’ button finding out why is vital.

Offline and online, from journey mapping to testing physiological reactions and brand interactions, businesses are investing in researching the moments that potential customers drop off.

A survey, conducted by YouGov and commerce cloud provider GT Nexus, aims to shed light on the reasons why 18- to 34-year-olds have switched out one of their favourite brands in the past 12 months.

It shows that the major disloyalty factors fall into the behind-the-scenes domains of operations, logistics and supply chain management, all the more important as UK millennials put a premium on product quality and availability. Respondents cite problems with quality and product availability (both 41%) as the two biggest reasons for switching from one of their favourite brands to another.

In addition 28% of respondents would be turned off a brand if it doesn’t treat or pay its workers fairly and 22% would switch brands if the product isn’t environmentally friendly. This compares to the lack of a strong social media presence (5%), the lack of a mobile app (4%) or the lack of a cool website (3%), which have the least effect on whether millennials turn away from their favourite brands.

A separate study of 2,827 UK adults, commissioned by Market Force Information, finds that in the last year alone seven-in-10 UK shoppers have had such a bad experience at a particular store they vowed not to return.